Howard's Coldwater, Ont. foursome defeated youthful Brier champion and world silver medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie 6-3 in the semifinals of The Players' Championship, the fourth and final event in the Grand Slam of Curling series.

Team Howard opened with a deuce and built a 4-1 lead after three ends, eventually shooting 94% to Team Jacobs' 80%.

For Jacobs, the defeat was a crushing blow. Thanks to earlier quarterfinal losses by Toronto's John Epping (to McEwen) and Brad Gushue (to Howard), a Jacobs win would have clinched the last direct men's berth into this fall's Canadian Olympic trials in Winnipeg. Instead, Epping has now earned the berth.

Epping, along with new second Collin Mitchell and other friends, watched the drama unfold on television at a Carlton Street bar near the arena. When the last stone came to rest, the group erupted in high-fives.

"This is huge," a relieved Epping said.

"It's been quite and up and down couple of years. We've shown we can win big events against the best teams, and that we can lose quite a bit to anyone as well.

Lawton, the defending Players' women's champion, dropped a steal of two in the eighth end and then the winning steal point in the extra frame.

Muirhead and Sigfridsson square off in an all-European championship final -- a rematch of last month's world final -- on Sunday morning (9 a.m. ET on Sportsnet) while Howard and McEwen will close the 2013-14 curling season at 1 p.m. ET on CBC.

Team Crocker isn't really from Edmonton. This is a Toronto team that moved west last summer to train and prepare for the World University Games in Italy this coming December.

"(Toronto) feels like home, for sure," said the 23-year-old skip. "It was strange when we did a photo shoot, they gave me an Alberta flag to pose with and I said, 'Are you sure that's for me?' "

Crocker and third Sarah Wilkes both hail from Scarborough.

"The goal at the beginning of the season was just to improve, and gain experience against really good teams for the University Games," said Crocker. "Another goal was to gain some points and qualify for the (Canadian Olympic) pre-trials, which we've done. It's been a pretty good year."

The pre-trials will declare the final two women's (and men's) Olympic trials teams in an event hosted in Kitchener, Ont. That's another Crocker-friendly town, as she and Wilkes won back-to-back CIS University championships for Wilfrid Laurier in 2011 and 2012.

Howard's Coldwater, Ont. foursome defeated youthful Brier champion and world silver medallist Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie 6-3 in the semifinals of The Players' Championship, the fourth and final event in the Grand Slam of Curling series.